Based on the results of the National Oil Shale Resource Evaluation in China conducted from 2003 to 2006, and combined with the new exploration progress in recent years, the characteristics and resource potential of oil shale in China have been systematically studied in this paper. Oil shale resources in China are abundant, with deposits mainly found in the continental environment and, secondarily, in marine-continental facies.
The color of oil shale is black to grayish black, black to gray brown or gray to dark gray. In general, the darker the color, the higher the quality of oil shale. The most common minerals in oil shale are clay minerals, quartz and feldspars. The concentration of organic carbon in Chinese oil shale is high, between 7.48 and 38.02%. By organic genetic type, oil shale can be divided into sapropelic, humosapropelic and saprohumic oil shale. Oil shale used for industrial purposes has a medium to high oil yield and high ash content. Oil shale resources in China are mainly concentrated in 20 provinces and autonomous regions, 50 basins and 83 petroliferous shale areas. Total oil shale resources are estimated at approximately 978 billion tons, i.e. about 61 billion tons of in-place shale oil, mainly distributed throughout eastern and central China and the Qinghai-Tibet Region in western China. This paper outlines the distribution of oil shale deposits in China with respect to depositional basin type, and oil shale age and grade. Oil shale in China was deposited mainly in extensional and intra-plate basins during the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic. The size of the basins diminishes from older to younger deposits. Oil shale resources that yield shale oil more than 5% by weight account for about 72% of the rock’s total resources in the country.
1. Qian, J. L., Yin, L. Oil Shale - Petroleum Alternative. China Petrochemical Press, Beijing, 2011, 1–50.
2. Brendow, K. Global oil shale issues and perspectives. Oil Shale, 2003, 20(1), 81–92.
3. Hilger, J. Combined utilization of oil shale energy and oil shale minerals within the production of cement and other hydraulic binders. Oil Shale, 2003, 20(3S), 347–355.
4. Hou, J. L., Ma, Y., Li, S. Y., Teng, J. S. Development and utilization of oil shale worldwide. Chemical Industry and Engineering Progress, 2015, 34(5), 1183–1190 (in Chinese, summary in English).
5. An, B. C., Wang, W. Y., Ji, G. J., Gan, S. C., Gao, G. M., Xu, J. J., Li, G. H. Preparation of nano-sized α-Al2O3 from oil shale ash. Energy, 2010, 35(1), 45–49.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2009.08.027
6. Zhang, Z. K., Zhang, L., Li, A. M. Remedial processing of oil shale fly ash (OSFA) and its value-added conversion into glass-ceramics. Waste Manage., 2015, 46, 316–321.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2015.09.007
7. Vallner, L., Gavrilova, O., Vilu, R. Environmental risks and problems of the optimal management of an oil shale semi-coke and ash landfill in Kohtla-Järve, Estonia. Sci. Total Environ., 2015, 524–525, 400–415.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.03.130
8. Dyni, J. R. Geology and resources of some world oil-shale deposits. Oil Shale, 2003, 20(3), 193–252.
9. Zhang, J. Q., Liu, Z. X., Qian, J. L., Liu, Z. J. Feasibility of the Oil Shale Industry Development in China. Geological Publishing House, Beijing, 2010, 1–29.
10. Liu, Z. J., Yang, H. L., Dong, Q. S., Zhu, J. W., Guo, W., Ye, S. Q., Liu, R., Meng, Q. T., Zhang, H. L., Gan, S. C. Oil Shale in China. Petroleum Industry Press, Beijing, 2009, 62–116 (in Chinese, summary in English).
11. Zelenin, N. I., Ozerov, I. M. Handbook on Oil Shale. Nedra, Leningrad, 1983 (in Russian).
12. Zhao, L. Y., Chen, J. N., Wang, T. S. Grade dividing and composition of oil shale in China. Geoscience, 1991, 5(4), 423–429 (in Chinese, summary in English).
13. The National Committee Office of Mineral Reserves in China. Reference Manual of Industrial Requirements for Ores. Geology Publishing House, Beijing, 1987 (in Chinese).
14. Liu, Z. J., Meng, Q. T., Liu, R. Characteristics and genetic types of continental oil shales in China. Journal of Palaeogeography, 2009, 11(1), 105–114 (in Chinese, summary in English).
15. Strobl, S. A. I., Sachsenhofer, R. F., Bechtel, A., Meng, Q., Sun, P. Deposition of coal and oil shale in NE China: The Eocene Huadian Basin compared to the coeval Fushun Basin. Mar. Petrol. Geol., 2015, 64, 347–362.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2015.03.014
16. Jia, J. L., Bechtel, A., Liu, Z. J., Strobl, S. A. I., Sun, P. C., Sachsenhofer, R. F. Oil shale formation in the Upper Cretaceous Nenjiang Formation of the Songliao Basin (NE China): Implications from organic and inorganic geochemical analyses. Int. J. Coal Geol., 2013, 113, 11–26.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2013.03.004
17. National Quality and Technique Supervise Office. GB/T17766 - 1999 National Criterion of P. R. China. Solid Mine Resource/Reserves Classification. Standards Press of China, Beijing, 1999, 3–5 (in Chinese).
18. National Quality Supervision and Quarantines Office. GB/T13908 - 2002 Solid Mine Geological Survey Criterion. General Rules. Standards Press of China, Beijing, 2002, 1–14 (in Chinese).
19. Jia, J. L., Liu, Z. J., Meng, Q. T., Liu, R., Sun, P. C., Chen, Y. C. Quantitative evaluation of oil shale based on well log and 3-D seismic technique in the Songliao Basin, Northeast China. Oil Shale, 2012, 29(2), 128–150.
https://doi.org/10.3176/oil.2012.2.04
20. Jia, J. L., Liu, Z. J., Liu, R., Guo, W., Chen, H. J., Sun, P. C., Meng, Q. T. Establishment of assessment system for oil shale resources based on geological analogy. Acta Geologica Sinica, 2014, 88(7), 1321–1333 (in Chinese, summary in English).
21. Tectonics of Sedimentary Basins (Busby, C. J., Ingersoll, R. V., eds.). Blackwell Science, Cambridge, 1995.
22. Ji, Y. L., An, A. Q., Zhu, R. K. Research on sequence architectures of continental foreland basins – a case study of the late stage of the southern Junggar foreland basin. Oil & Gas Geology, 2008, 29(2), 237–251 (in Chinese, summary in English).
23. Song, C. Y. Evolution of Mesozoic Sedimentary Basin in Qiangtang and its Significance in Petroleum Geology (PhD Thesis). Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 2012, 40–69 (in Chinese, summary in English).
